Thursday, August 21, 2008

Just to be clear, I was not setting out to Save the Earth. Selfish gal that I am, I really only wanted to make my own life easier. But ever since I bought those reusable Publix shopping bags, I've noticed that small things I never gave a second thought to before are starting to give me a little twinge of guilt.

Take lunch for example.

I pack lunch every day for my daughter and for my husband. You know what's bothering me about it? The number of Ziploc bags we seem to tear through in a week. I just can't get the idea of growing landfills out of my head.

Then, my September Parents Magazine comes in the mail and features lunch ideas packed in one of these.

Doesn't that look beautiful? I'm hungry just looking at it. Buying it would reduce the amount of lunch waste. It would also make it easier to offer my daughter a little more lunch variety (I could pack her favorite spinach salad, for example.)

But I'm still trying to get my head around the price. Shipped, it's going to cost me about $40. That's one pricey lunchbox -- not to mention the fact that there is not one trace of a Disney Princess on it (thus seriously diminishing the "cool" factor in my daughter's eyes). It's also a good deal bigger than the lunch box my daughter is using at the moment.

I've been debating the issue for about a week now. I'll probably debate a few days more, and then bite the bullet and give the thing the a try. Because the guilt will just not leave me alone.

But, for the time being, I'm still sticking with disposable diapers. I'm sorry. A girl's gotta draw the line somewhere.

hey, you know what? the next time i pass by that cute japanese store around here, i'll go pop in to see if they have those lunch things in kiddie size (hopefully with cute graphics too.) i remember seeing those in there before.

I have been thinking of getting the Laptop Lunch kits for my kids for about 6 months. I hate the number of plastic baggies that I go through every week. Everyone I know who has them just loves them. And you can pack higher quality meals too. I'm kind of anti-character for stuff like backpacks and lunch bags anyway, so that fits right in with me. I do have wrap-n-mats though that I'm going to use for sandwiches this year instead of sandwich bags.

Speaking of canvas shopping bags, I have the coolest grocery bags ever! Everyone comments on them. I got them at Reusablebags.com. I have these brown Acme ones that look like paper bags but are canvas and hold tons. And then, the ones that everyone comments on, are the Chico Bags. They fold up into a tiny enclosed pouch and will fit in your purse. I can pack an entire week's worth of groceries in 2 of the Acme bags, and 2-3 of the Chico bags. They fit an amazing quantity of stuff.

I used cloth diapers for my younger son though from when he turned 2 until potty training (he had an awful reaction to disposables and ended up with red sore bum for 2 months, it was probably the low-point of my mommy-dom), so maybe you shouldn't be listening to me, LOL.

I have thought about those as well, but buying three is just not happening right now. I use wax paper (recyclable to wrap some stuff and reusable plastic for others. There are also reusable cloth bags that you can get on www.esty.com but I haven't invested in those either. Decisions, decisions...

This guilt set in with me last year when my daughter was in kindergarten, and I began using the little rectangular plastic Gerber baby food containers for things like carrots, crackers, and fruit. They work well for us! And I use a little sandwich-shaped container that I got at Walmart for sandwiches. I hand-wash them so they aren't exposed to the wear and tear of the dishwasher, so that's a little trouble, but it's worth it to me.